RISMEDIA, March 30, 2010—Dave Liniger, RE/MAX International Chairman and Co-Founder was named one of BusinessWeek magazine’s 50 Most Powerful People in Real Estate 2010, for his leadership and vision in what has been the most challenging real estate market in recent history. The magazine cites his “influential voice in the real estate industry” and his commitment to have more than 10,000 RE/MAX agents trained to assist families facing foreclosure as reasons why Liniger is recognized with other high-profile leaders.
Throughout the housing crisis, Liniger has been a catalyst for change, lobbying government officials for critical reforms and legislation. Through numerous Washington meetings with leaders such as Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner David Stevens, and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Ed DeMarco, Liniger promoted the extension of the Home Buyer Tax Credit and Short Sale reforms, both of which have already had a favorable impact on the national housing market. Liniger joined these influential leaders along with President Obama on the most powerful people list. He was one of just two leaders representing the real estate brokerage business recognized by BusinessWeek.
During 2009, Liniger also met with U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and representatives from the Treasury Department, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and several national mortgage lenders.
“We’ve experienced several market cycles through 40 years in real estate, and never saw anything quite like this. So, we couldn’t sit by and just watch the negative impacts on our country,” said Liniger who co-founded RE/MAX in Denver, CO, with his wife, Gail Liniger in 1973. “We’ve done everything within our power to bring about positive change, but recognize there’s still a lot to do. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
Believing that every distressed property actually represents a distressed family, Liniger sought to curb the wave of damaging foreclosures and help these families with a commitment to train 7,500 RE/MAX agents with the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) professional designation. However, by the end of the year, over 10,000 RE/MAX agents earned the designation, representing over 50% of all CDPE designees in the United States. Thousands more RE/MAX agents have earned the similar designation of Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource (SFR).
Liniger believes so passionately about distressed property training that, last fall, he embarked on a U.S. speaking tour that took him to 30 major cities with personal presentations to nearly 11,000 real estate agents. More recently, Liniger was a featured speaker at the Five Star Government Forum in Washington, D.C. that brought government and industry leaders together to share ideas on stabilizing the real estate market.
His inspiring leadership continues to motivate a network of nearly 100,000 agents in more than 75 countries. Thousands of RE/MAX Affiliates traveled from around the world to hear Liniger speak in Orlando, FL, earlier this month at the 2010 RE/MAX International Convention.
For more information, visit www.remax.com.
